Spirit level casing



Feb, J, 1951 W. vElT 2,543,139

SPIRIT LEVEL CASING Filed Nov. 29, 1947 Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE SPIRIT LEVEL CASING William Veit, Bronx, N. Y.

Application November 29, 1947, Serial No. 788,837

1 Claim.

This invention relates to spirit levels consisting of a spirit and airbubble tube mounted in a casing.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a spirit and airbubble tube carrying casing arranged to be releasably attached to eithera horizontally or vertically extending element to be leveled without thenecessity of providing more than one spirit and air bubble tube in saidcasing.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be disclosed in thedetailed description of the invention.

In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this application,Figure l is a top plan view of the spirit level constituting theembodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional View taken on the line 22 of Figure1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is an end view looking at the left hand side of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a View of the spirit level detachably engaged on a drillpress shank to show the application of said level to a verticallyextending element.

Figure 5 is a view of the spirit level detachably engaged on a planer toshow the application of said level to a horizontally extending element.

Figure 6 is a View showing the level attached to an arm of the user tofacilitate leveling of diiferent elements or tools being handled.

Figure '7 is a fragmentary top view, on an enlarged scale, of a pivotalmounting of one end of a resilient and flexible band on the casing ofthe level.

Figure 8 is a side view looking at the bottom of Figure '7.

Figure 9 is an end view looking at the right hand side of Figure 8 withpart of the casing in section.

Figure 10 is a View similar to Figure 9 of a modificated form ofmounting of the ends of the resilient band on the casing of the level.

Figure 11 is a sectional view taken on the line l||l of Figure 10looking in the direction of the arrows.

In carrying out the embodiment of the invention illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, there is provided a casing formed from a metal bar12 of square form in cross section or of other suitable material havinga longitudinal chamber IS. The chamber may be formed in the bar orcasing by a bore extending through one end to adjacent the opposite endand parallelly of the longitudinal axis of the casing and adjacent to alongitudinal face thereof. Said longitudinal face of the casing isprovided with a sight opening Iii opening to the chamber I3.

A spirit and air bubble tube i5 is engaged in the chamber 13 through theopen end of the chamber with the bubble exposed through the sightopening I 5 when the casing is positioned with the sight openinguppermost. The tube is retained against movement in the chamber if; by aplug I6 engagedv in the open end of the chamber to abut one end of thetube with the opposite end of the tube abutting the closed end of thechamber, as shown in Figure 2.

The longitudinal face of the casing opposite the longitudinal facearranged with the sight opening I4 is provided with a groove Ilextending longitudinally of said face and shown as being of arcuateshape in cross section with a straight wall portion II on each side ofthe groove, as shown in Figure 3. The opposite ends of the casing 12 arearranged with corresponding grooves l8 extending parallelly of said endsand each other with a straight wall portion [8' on each side of each ofsaid grooves, as shown in Figure 1.

The grooves l1 and I8 permit the engagement of the casing I2 on theelement to be leveled. The casing is releasably retained on said elementby a flexible and resilient band shown in the present illustration ascomprising a helical fiat band ii] of spring metal in the form of anextension spring having the opposite end portions extending from thelongitudinal center of the band and arranged in the form of eyelets 20.The opposite ends of the band [9 are pivotally connected to the oppositesides of the casing midway of the longitudinal faces and the ends of thecasing by engaging the eyelets 20 on a conical face 2! of a head 22 ofapin 23 secured in each of the sides of the casing midway of thelongitudinal faces and the ends of the casing, as shown in Figures 1,and 3 to 9, inclusive. The pivotal mounting of the eyelets 20 on theconical faces 2| permit the positioning of the band l9 to extend in aplane longitudinally of the casing, as shown in Figure 4, or to extendin a plane transversely of the casing, as shown in Figures 1, 2, 5 and6.

In Figures 10 and 11, there is shown a modified form of the pivotalmounting of the band la on the casing 12, wherein the opposite endportions of the band are of rod formation shaped to hook form, as shownat 24. The hook end portions 2% are pivotally engaged in a transverseopening 25 in a head 26 of a pin 21 secured in each of the sides of thecasing midway of the longitudinal faces and the ends of the casing. Thediameter of the openings 25 is greater than the diameter of the hook endportions 24 to permit pivotal movements of said hook end portions in theheads 26 about transverse axes of said heads and positioning of the bandI 9 to extend in planes longitudinally and transversely of the casingI2.

Figure 4 shows the application of the device to level a verticallyextending element, such as a drill press shank 28 of round shape incross section, by engaging the straight wall portions I8 of one of thegrooved ends I8 with the shank 28 and the band I9 encircling the shankto retain the straight wall portions I8 in engagement with the shank andthe casing I2 extending perpendicularly of the shank.

Figure 5 shows the device applied to a horizontally extending element,such as a planer consisting of a cutting element 29 carried by a tubularframe member 30. The straight wall portions H of the casing are engagedon the tubular frame member 30 with the band I9 encircling said memberand retaining said straight wall portions in engagement with the memberand the casing I2 extending parallelly of said member.

Figure 6 shows the device applied to a forearm 3| of a user of thedevice, whereby the user may readily ascertain whether an element ortool he is handling is level.

The grooves I1 and I8 may be of any other suitable cross sectionalshape, such as square or hexagonal, depending upon the cross sectionalshape of the element to be leveled.

The grooves I7 and I8, and the pivotal mounting of the head I9 permitthe leveling of vertically or horizontally extending elements withoutrequiring the mounting of more than one spirit and air bubble tube inthe casing.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: In a spirit level, a casingin the form of a bar of square shape in cross section having a chamberextending longitudinally thereof and a sight opening in one facecommunicating with the chamber, a groove in and extending longitudinallyof the opposite face, and a corresponding groove in each of the ends ofthe casing extending parallelly of each other and at right angles to thefaces, a spirit and air bubble tube mounted in the chamber to extend inthe direction and parallelly of the faces with the bubble exposedthrough the sight opening in the casing, and a flexible and resilientband pivotally connected at the opposite ends to the opposite sidesmidway of the ends of the casing to detachably mount the casing on anelement to be leveled with a groove of the casing spanning said element.

WILLIAM VEIT.

REFERENCES CETED The following references are or" record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 312,266 Gurley Feb. 17, 1885625,019 Cardell May 16, 1899 898,349 Fielding Sept. 8, 1908 1,017,457Perlik Feb. 13, 1912 1,749,980 Loesser Mar. 11, 1930 2,284,582 LangerMay 26, 19 12- FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 76,721 Switzerland1918

